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ella
Student
Grundy Center, Iowa
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Physical Therapy Questions
what does the daily like if a PT look like?
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3 answers
Brenda Baugh
Career & Employer Relations Specialist
25
Answers
Atlanta, Georgia
Updated
Brenda’s Answer
The daily life of a Physical Therapist can be very rewarding. Every patient has a different scenario so you will theoretically be dealing with a different circumstance with each patient. You will have your daily schedule may have persons with injuries from spinal cords to car accidents. You have to be able to plan a course of treatment for their issue and then treat another patient doing something completely different. At the end of the day, you have used your brain a lot and you have performed a lot of physical activity on your own.
You can work in a general setting and help everyone or you can specialize in areas for runners, back issues, neurological issues, and other areas.
The whole idea about the PT is that you work with persons who have movement-related problems. Sometimes people confuse PT with Occupational Therapy which is different. They work with people to help them with learning how to navigate their daily activities that can no longer be done usually because of a change in physical stamina and limitations such as putting on shoes, doing dishes, or reaching dishes on a shelf.
You can work in a general setting and help everyone or you can specialize in areas for runners, back issues, neurological issues, and other areas.
The whole idea about the PT is that you work with persons who have movement-related problems. Sometimes people confuse PT with Occupational Therapy which is different. They work with people to help them with learning how to navigate their daily activities that can no longer be done usually because of a change in physical stamina and limitations such as putting on shoes, doing dishes, or reaching dishes on a shelf.
Rachel Liu, PT, DPT
Physical Therapist
6
Answers
Portland, Oregon
Updated
Rachel’s Answer
Hi Ella! I am a licensed physical therapist and have had clinical experiences in many different settings.
Here are some snippets of what your day could look like in various settings:
- Outpatient Orthopedics: Usually 5-day work week, could have to work 1/2 days on Saturdays on a rotating schedule. It's a very stable environment, where you'd encounter people who have had knee, shoulder, elbow, hand, and/or ankle surgery (or any other musculoskeletal conditions). Depending on what kind of clinic it is, you could have demanding productivity requirements (seeing 10-12 patients within an 8 hour work day). Tends to be a busy work day, but you're usually around other colleagues. Other clinics have PTs see their patients for 1-hour blocks, which is much better!
- Acute Care: You could rotate on many different floors of the hospital, ranging from cardiopulmonary, neurological, orthopedic, and ICU. Lots of team collaboration and effective communication necessary. Sometimes hectic and ever-changing scheduling because acute care is unpredictable. You have to be flexible, but also driven to succeed in this setting. Can either be 8-hour work days or 10-hour work days.
- Acute Rehab: It is very rewarding to work with patients in acute rehab! They most likely had a major event happen (stroke, TBI, heart surgery, etc) and are working hard to get their function back. It can be super tiring to work in this setting, as it sometimes requires 10-hour shifts, 4 days a week.
There are many other settings to work in as a PT, but the 3 I mentioned above are most popular! There's also different patient populations to consider: geriatrics, pediatrics, aquatics, sports, cardiac rehab, etc.
Hope this helps!
Here are some snippets of what your day could look like in various settings:
- Outpatient Orthopedics: Usually 5-day work week, could have to work 1/2 days on Saturdays on a rotating schedule. It's a very stable environment, where you'd encounter people who have had knee, shoulder, elbow, hand, and/or ankle surgery (or any other musculoskeletal conditions). Depending on what kind of clinic it is, you could have demanding productivity requirements (seeing 10-12 patients within an 8 hour work day). Tends to be a busy work day, but you're usually around other colleagues. Other clinics have PTs see their patients for 1-hour blocks, which is much better!
- Acute Care: You could rotate on many different floors of the hospital, ranging from cardiopulmonary, neurological, orthopedic, and ICU. Lots of team collaboration and effective communication necessary. Sometimes hectic and ever-changing scheduling because acute care is unpredictable. You have to be flexible, but also driven to succeed in this setting. Can either be 8-hour work days or 10-hour work days.
- Acute Rehab: It is very rewarding to work with patients in acute rehab! They most likely had a major event happen (stroke, TBI, heart surgery, etc) and are working hard to get their function back. It can be super tiring to work in this setting, as it sometimes requires 10-hour shifts, 4 days a week.
There are many other settings to work in as a PT, but the 3 I mentioned above are most popular! There's also different patient populations to consider: geriatrics, pediatrics, aquatics, sports, cardiac rehab, etc.
Hope this helps!
Holly Ross
Business Systems Analyst
16
Answers
Sunnyvale, California
Updated
Holly’s Answer
I am personally not a PT, but know quite a few people who are as well as going to PT quite a bit.
Similar to the last post, you'll be working with people to help improve their motor skills.
One friend I have works with the geriatric population and helps them with mobility exercises (ie. actions we take for granted everyday, like walking, sitting, chewing, etc). While a lot of her work is helping them physically, she has found with an elderly population that social and emotional connection with them is just as important, especially considering these are people have lost their abilities over time.
I have another friend who works as a PT and her role is to help with infants who are behind on key developmental stages. She mostly works with parents around steps they can take to help their children get back on track. The types of things she might do is teaching parents how to do certain exercises with their kids at home, such as walking, crawling, chewing, swallowing, etc.
Similar to the last post, you'll be working with people to help improve their motor skills.
One friend I have works with the geriatric population and helps them with mobility exercises (ie. actions we take for granted everyday, like walking, sitting, chewing, etc). While a lot of her work is helping them physically, she has found with an elderly population that social and emotional connection with them is just as important, especially considering these are people have lost their abilities over time.
I have another friend who works as a PT and her role is to help with infants who are behind on key developmental stages. She mostly works with parents around steps they can take to help their children get back on track. The types of things she might do is teaching parents how to do certain exercises with their kids at home, such as walking, crawling, chewing, swallowing, etc.